The parties of defeated leftist candidates in France's presidential election have called on voters to support incumbent Jacques Chirac in the second round against far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Mr Le Pen, who gained notoriety for his remarks about the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews and his stance on immigration, has attributed his strong showing in the first round partly to popular discontent with mainstream parties.

He said his success in the first round was an engine for the renewal of the country and the end of a decadent political system.

France needs you, and I need you

Jacques Chirac

In a speech to supporters, he said that, if elected, he would reconsider France's membership of the European Union.

"The first question I would raise would be the restoration of
French freedoms and an exit from the Europe of Maastricht," he said.

However, he denied that he was anti-European.

"I am a partisan of a Europe of
nations, a Europe of homelands. I am however an adversary of a
supranational federalising Europe," said Mr Le Pen.

Rallying round Chirac

Many politicians who are Mr Chirac's political enemies have urged a vote for the incumbent to prevent Mr Pen seizing victory in the second.

"Jacques Chirac is our adversary in the
democratic arena but Jean-Marie Le Pen is a danger
for the republic," said Socialist Party chairman
Francois Hollande.

"Between a ballot for Le Pen or a ballot for Chirac, we are voting Jacques Chirac."

Jean-Marie Le Pen

Born in 1928 in the Brittany town of La Trinite-sur-Mer

Set up the National Front in 1972

In 1987 he described the Holocaust as a "detail of history"

Wants 200,000 new prison places, the abolition of inheritance tax and a renegotiation of European treaties